Tabula Rasa
by Plunk626
Summary: Buffy is Joan and Spike is Randy, Giles and Anya are kissing and Willow and Tara are about to, but then Xander steps on the stone Willow used to cast the spell... No, I don't like that. Let's have the spell last a little longer...
1. Start from the End

Chapter One

Giles and Anya are huddled behind the counter in the magic shop. Anya accidentally summoned a demon when she tried getting rid of the skeleton she conjured while trying to get rid of all the bunnies she materialized. Now they had at least fifty bunnies, a skeleton and a four-legged giant cat looking thing wondering around their store.

Giles was holding a book that contained a vanquishing spell. "Fatas… venga… mata…waray," he whispered. A blue light flashed through the store and the growling stopped. Giles and Anya looked at each other then peered over the counter. They stood up when they saw everything was gone. "Oh, that's better."

Anya rushed out from behind the counter and picked her ring up from the ground. "Oh, thank goodness." She slipped it back on her finger.

Giles came out from behind the counter. "I'm so sorry dear."

"No. Rupy, I'm sorry. You were right. That was the wrong book," Anya admitted.

"Oh… um…" Giles removed his glasses. "Yes, it was. But I'm, I'm still sorry."

"Don't leave me."

"Oh Anya." Giles walked over to her and kissed her, bending her over backward.

In the dark sewer they went into, Tara, Willow and Dawn look out from the pipe they were hiding in. Tara and Willow jumped down to the ground and looked around. The vampire that followed them appeared and growled with a smile. Willow grabbed Tara and they dropped onto the ground, Willow on top. The crystal Willow used to conjure the forget spell fell out of her pocket. Willow and Tara gazed into each other's eyes, not thinking about anything else.

"Hey, over here big guy," Xander said. "Check out this throbbing jugular."

The vampire walked over to Xander and tried to grab him. Xander punched him.

Dawn hopped out of the pipe and looked over to see the vampire punching Xander in the stomach. She saw a piece of wood on the ground and snatched it. The vampire punched Xander again in the stomach and then the face. He picked him up and threw Xander over a piece of pipe. Xander landed on the ground.

"Alex!" Dawn yelled, throwing him the stake.

Xander caught it and held the pointy end out. The vampire walked into it as he approached him. Xander and Dawn stared in disbelief as he turned to dust.

Willow and Tara were still on the ground, their faces inches apart. Tara reached up and brushed some hair from Willow's face. They both slightly smiled before Willow bent down to kiss Tara.

Xander stood up, groaning from the pain he was in. He looked down and saw the stone. He picked it up. "What's this?"

"I don't know," Dawn said. "One of those magic things? Maybe we should bring it to Rupert and Anya."

"Good idea." Xander placed the stone in his pocket.

Out on the street, Buffy and Spike were still fighting the vampires that attacked them at the magic shop. Spike was holding a vampire by the arms as Buffy kicked him and then punched him. He fell to the ground.

"Don't mess with Joan the vampire killer." A vampire tried backhanding her face but she caught it and twisted it behind his back. She took her stake and jammed it into his chest. He turned to dust. "I like this no mess no fuss thing."

Spike nodded and staked the vampire on the ground. "'Cept now I have to be careful whenever I use a pencil."

"I wonder if your Dad knows."

"Great. I didn't even think about that. _That_ won't be a good conversation."

"Maybe he'll understand."

"Right, because all parents are used to their children telling them they're a vampire," Spike said sarcastically.

"He _is_ a magic shop owner. That should give you special freak factor privileges," Buffy comforted.

Spike's face turned back to human. "Whoah. What just happened?" He felt his face. "Is it normal again?"

"Yeah," Buffy said confused. "How'd you do that?"

"I don't know." He kept touching his face, feeling no 'lumpies' or pointy fangs. "Maybe I won't even have to, as long as my face doesn't change in front of him."

"But you have to drink blood…. Don't you?"

"I don't know."

The shark demon approached them from behind.

"Whaoh!" Buffy screamed. She pulled Spike arm so he'd move away from him.

Spike turned his head and saw the disfigured thing. "Bloody hell!"

"You're an odd duck Mister Spike. Fighting your own kind ... palling around with a Slayer. And whoa, that suit! Chutzpah must be your middle name." He laughed weakly. "Uh, hey, look, um ... about our little debt problem, it's okay, I don't need the kittens."

"Why kittens?" Spike asked. "What would you want with kittens?" The thought was grasped once he finished his sentence.

"You were gonna eat little kitties?" Buffy asked sadly.

"No, because there's no debt. I'll just leave merrily and we'll never speak of this again." The shark waved goodbye and left.

Buffy and Spike watched him leave. "What in the world is that?"

"No bloody clue." After a beat Buffy punched his right arm. "Ow! What?"

"How could you bid forty cats to a thing that would eat them?"

"I don't know. I don't know who he was or why I owed him cats. Memory problem. We don't know who we are. Any of this ringing a bell?"

"Shut up Randy."

"Fine. Let's just go back to the magic shop. I don't want Dad to worry about me and give me the 'why didn't you call? I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere' speech."

"Only it would be bitten by a vampire."

"Doesn't change the concept of the lecture." Buffy and Spike walked side by side and made small talk as they walked back to the Magic Box.


	2. Normal?

Chapter Two

"Bloody hell!" Spike screamed. He immediately turned around when he saw Giles and Anya kissing. They quickly parted and wiped their mouths.

"You can look now," Giles stated.

Spike turned his head, to make sure, then turned his body. "Your son is out fighting vampires and you're mackin' it with your frumpy fiancée! What kind of father are you?!"

"Because I'm showing affection towards Anya, doesn't mean I forgot about you."

"I don't want you thinking about me when you're kissing her!" Spike yelled, pointing to her.

"I didn't mean at that specific moment, it's just… it's been a hard and confusing night."

"It has for me too! I was fighting vampires while you looked through a bunch of books! Hope you didn't get any paper cuts while my neck was almost gnawed on."

"Now that's unfair Randy!" Giles intervened. "You can't judge on this store now, the events that occurred."

Spike saw the books on the floor and a couple things that fell from the shelves. "Oh ew!" Spike exclaimed. "Thanks a lot Dad."

"No, we didn't do that."

"I might have accidentally summoned a couple things," Anya added.

"A couple? You had the floor covered with bunnies, a ceiling made up of green clouds, a swordsman skeleton and a cat monstrosity that wanted to eat us," Giles reminded her.

"I said I was sorry," Anya said sadly.

"I know dear."

"Your family nights must be full of fun," Buffy commented.

"I can't wait to tell Mom about this," Spike added.

"What are you going to tell her? That I've happily moved on with my life?" Giles stopped and thought. "Where is your mother?"

"I don't know. I'm not the woman's beeper."

Just then the back door opened. Giles covered Anya and nudged her back. Buffy and Spike just watched to see what came out. It was Xander and Dawn.

"Dawn!" Buffy ran to her and gave her a hug. She looked over and noticed Xander was a little sad. "What's wrong? You look all bummed."

"My girlfriend is a lesbian." He sulked to the table.

Buffy looked at Dawn with mystification. "It's true. She told me. And the visual of her and Tara making out on the sewer floor was some pretty solid evidence."

"Do you have to revisit that image?" Xander asked annoyed.

"Sorry Alex," Dawn apologized.

"Maybe _she's_ a lesbian," Spike said, gesturing to Anya.

"Why would I be engaged to Rupert if I were a lesbian?"

"I don't know, ask Elton John. He bloody went _through_ with the wedding."

"I _am_ going to go through with it," Anya insisted.

"We'll wait for the reception."

"If he's the Best Man he could ruin everything."

"I'm his bloody son."

Buffy just turned around, trying not to pay attention to them. She faced Dawn. "Where are Willow and Tara? We have to make sure they're okay." Xander let out a cry.

As if on queue, Tara and Willow came up the steps to the Magic Box. They were smiling and holding hands until they saw everyone's faces. Willow saw Xander and walked over to him. She bent down next to him and placed both her hands on his arm. "I'm sorry Alex."

Xander pulled his arm away. "Me too. I was all excited about the girlfriend thing, but apparently you were too."  
Willow pursed her lips and stood up. "I'm still sorry. I hope we can be friends."

Xander laughed out loud. Willow gave him a sad look. "Oh, you were serious."

Willow stood up. "Why do you have to act like this? I'm trying to be nice."

"Oh, am I supposed to forgive you immediately when I catch you kissing another girl?"

"Alex, why do you have to be so stubborn?"

Xander pushed back his chair and looked down at Willow. "You kissed another girl. I'm sorry, but that's not okay with me."

"These people are pretty messed up," Dawn whispered to Buffy.

"I know. We're the only normal ones here."


	3. Attraction?

Chapter Three 

"You just can't accept that I'm an independent woman," Willow yelled at Xander.

"I have no problems with you being independent. Be independent all you want. I have problems with you not telling me you're a lesbian," Xander yelled back.

"Your non leveled head is probably one of the reasons I became a lesbian in the first place!"

Xander inhaled deeply in shock and moved further away from her. He took a small breath and looked away sadly. "You went too far that time."

Willow suddenly felt sadness for hurting him. "I'm sorry." She moved closer but he moved away.

"No. I'm still mad."

"Again with the stubbornness. Just let me hug you and this will all be over."

"Oh yeah," Xander said sarcastically. He gave Willow a quick hug and stood back. "Wow, it's like nothing never happened." Willow's nose squished from her extreme angry frown.

"Dad, how can you be marrying this woman if I don't even like her? Shouldn't that be a number one turn off?" Spike demanded of Giles.

"Why can't _I_ be happy?" Giles asked, keeping away from yelling.

"Just be happy with someone other than her. She hates me."

"I do not," Anya added.

"Bullocks."

"Randy, why must you take out your anger about me and your mother on Anya?"

"I can't talk to you." Spike threw his hands in the air and walked away.

"Hello!" Buffy yelled. Everyone stopped and looked at her. "Are we forgetting the crucial importance of getting our memories back? I mean, I don't know about you, but I would like to have this whole thing settled. With no lack of memory gaps."

"She's right. We should figure out how we can restore our memories," Giles said. He removed his glasses and cleaned them.

"How about a spell?" Dawn suggested.

"As long as Anya doesn't perform it, I think that's a good idea." Giles picked up a book.

"Rupert. You don't have to let everyone here know the mistakes I made with a few incantations."

"Anya please, dear. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry Anya this. I'm sorry Anya that. How about I'm sorry Randy for giving you an awful name and ignoring you all the time?"

"Randy, would you please stop this?"

"Ya know what, fine. I won't attempt to talk to you any more because you obviously have no interest." Spike went to the back room and slammed the door.

Giles took a deep breath. He looked from Anya to the door. He put the book on the table and walked to the back room. Buffy intervened. "I don't think you should do that."

"He's my son. I have to talk to him."

"Look, I know you don't want him mad at you, but he is. And the last thing he wants is to here you say you're sorry and you love him more because he won't believe you anyway."

"That's very comforting."

"Just, let me warm him up a little bit. You're the magic shop owner anyway, look for something to help us." Buffy opened the door and shut it carefully. Her face became confused. She saw the punching bag, balance beam and weapons lined along the wall. "Is your Dad a little too obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons?"

"I don't know." He was sitting on a little couch against the stone wall.

Buffy walked over to him and sat down. "Crazy situation huh?"

Spike let out a little chuckle. "I think crazy is an understatement."

"Yeah." The sat there twiddling their thumbs for awhile before Buffy broke the silence. "Sorry about the thing with your Dad."

"Me too." Spike leaned back in the chair. "I just want to stop thinking about it."

"Good idea. Let's think of something else."

"Like how crappy life's looking now?"

"Well, that wasn't my first thought."

Spike got up from his seat and paced with his head in his hands. "This is just bloody fantastic. My Dad's marrying a tarty woman who could be my sister, I have no memory of my life and I'm surrounded by strangers who keep bickering to each other about _their_ little problems." He stopped pacing. "And I'm British."

"I like the accent."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's… attractive." Buffy smiled. She felt different when she was around him. For some reason he made her feel safe, which must be a pretty powerful feeling if she can't even remember her relation to him. "So, uh, what do you like to do?"

"I don't know. Can't remember."

"Not even, playing ball. Reading. Walking on the beach with the sun-" Buffy stopped remembering the vampire thing, "lighting up the moon."

"God, and I'm a vampire. I think this life officially sucks."

Buffy got up and walked over to him. "It could be worse." Spike gave her a 'how?' look. "You could be that shark thing, or be like, a government test bunny."

"Yeah, that would probably be worse." He thought for a minute.

"See. You don't exactly have a perfect life, but I'm sure I don't either. I just don't have as many people here to remind me I guess."

"Your life probably isn't that bad." Spike and Buffy were looking in each other's eyes and getting closer by some sort of magnetic pull.

Suddenly, the door opened. It was Dawn. "Mr. Giles says he found something." Buffy and Spike gave each other one last look before Buffy turned to leave. Spike followed.

"It says here that memory spells can be done in many different ways. All we need to do is figure out how we lost _our_ memories and then this book will tell us what to do."

"So now we need to figure out another thing?! What kind of bull hanky is this," Xander said.

"Calm down," Willow said kindly.

"Stop telling me to calm down. This life is sucking so far. My girlfriend's a lesbian, I have no idea where I am and I just ate my last candy bar." He shoved the wrapper in his pocket and felt the stone. "Oh! I have something." Xander tried pulling it out of his pocket.

"Oh God!" Buffy, Anya, and Willow exclaimed, shielding their eyes.

Xander finally extracted the stone from his pocket and gave it to Giles. "This was on the floor in the sewer. I'm not sure what it is, but I figured you're the one to give it to."

Giles looked at the stone. "It's a crystal. Must've come from the store."

"There are crystals over here. I'll put it back."

"Thank you Anya." He handed her the stone and Anya placed it in the basket that contained a few different kinds. "Now, let's work on figuring out how we lost our memories."


	4. Pretty Interesting Book

Chapter Four 

Everyone's glance was aimed at a book. Giles, Anya, Willow and Tara were seated at the table. Xander was sitting on the counter, and occasionally exchanged annoyed glances and rolling eyes with Willow. Dawn was sitting on the floor by the shelf she woke up next to. Buffy and Spike were sitting on the second floor.

Buffy reached the last page. "Nothing," she proclaimed in the room of silence. She crawled to the edge of the stairs and tossed it to Willow. Willow placed it on the pile of twenty other books that gave them nothing and tossed Buffy another one.

"Nothing," Dawn said. She added it to the pile and took another one.

"Well this is going well," Xander observed. "We have thirty books that tell us nothing and two hundred to go. Were you a librarian in another life?" Xander asked Giles.

"These books are very informative about spells and, demons," Giles retorted.

"And something called the Slayer," Xander said. "Some girl chosen to fight demons and vampires until she dies, which apparently doesn't take long. And has to cut herself off from the world and only take orders."

"Shitty deal," Buffy commented. She continued flipping through the book.

"But hey, she gets super human strength and kick ass abilities. But," Xander shut the book, "this doesn't help us." He added it to the pile. "Yet another loss." He grabbed the next book in the pile of unreads.

Buffy's face grew closer and closer to the book she was reading. "You look a little interested in that one pet. Are there pictures?"

"Huh? No. I just… I think this is a diary or something. They're talking about a Slayer called Nikki Wood who was killed on a subway by a vampire named Spike. Well, they assume. He'd been following her around for awhile."

"Too bad," Spike said sincerely.

She turned the page. It read: _Rupert Giles's Watcher Diaries_. Buffy's mouth opened. She looked down at the one who said his name was Rupert Giles. He was holding Anya's hand as he looked through his book. She looked back and turned the page. _I met the Slayer, Buffy, today. Her previous watcher was Merrick when she was in LA, but he sadly was killed. At first she was quite bewildered when I revealed the book on demons but later came to me about the vampire victim. Willow and Xander somehow found out she's the Slayer. I hope this doesn't get in the way of her duties._

"Something wrong Joan?" Spike asked, noticing her bewildered look.

Her eyes kept rereading the words. It was setting off a memory. She received bits and pieces but they went away once she stopped reading. "This sounds so familiar."

Spike pushed himself next to her. He read the book over her shoulder. "Buffy?"

"Yeah," she answered.

Spike's head moved back in surprise. "What?"

"I- I don't know. I don't know why I just said that."

Spike continued reading. "Willow and Xander." Spike looked down on the quiet people. "Isn't Willow the red head?" Spike pointed.

"Yeah."

"Who's Xander?"

"I don't know."

"Maybe this was just written by someone in an insane asylum." Buffy bit her lip and turned back a page. "Rupert Giles's Watcher Diary," he read, not caring. Then he realized what he just said and snatched the book to read it closer. Yup, still said Rupert Giles. "What the- Hey Dad?" Spike yelled. He stood up and walked down the stairs.

"Yes Randy?" Giles removed his hand from Anya's and gave his full attention to Spike.

"What is this?" Spike handed him the book.

Giles read in disbelief. He turned the page and continued reading. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No. No idea. I don't know who Buffy, Willow or Xander are."

"I'm Willow," she said.

"Do _you_ remember a Buffy or a Xander?"

Willow gave it a minute. Her mind was a complete blank until the moment when she woke up by Xander. "No."

"There can't be more than one of these people. Those names are too weird," Spike said.

"Okay Randy," Willow commented.

"That's his fault," Spike defended, pointing to Giles.

"Randy's right. Maybe figuring out this will help us," Giles stated.

"Great, more reading," Anya remarked.

"Well, my name's Alexander. Maybe _I'm_ Xander," he said uncertain.

"That makes sense," Giles said. "But then who's Buffy?" Everyone looked at each other and then turned their gaze to Buffy.

She knew it. She had this immense power and fighting ability, there just had to be a depressing explanation for it. "Me?"

"It fits. It says this girl is a Slayer, and Alex, uh, Xander here, informed us that she was quite strong and killed vampires," Giles stated feebly.

"At least now you know your name," Dawn said. _And it isn't really Joan._

"But I'm also someone cut off from the world who only takes orders."

"I have a suggestion. Why don't _you_ read this, and figure out more about yourself, while we continue with _our_ research?" Giles offered.

Buffy walked down the steps and took the book slowly. She looked at it for a minute. "I'm not sure I want to know."

"But it might help pet," Spike said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Buffy smiled and put her hand over his. "Okay. But, I would rather read this alone. Just incase I have a sudden urge to throw it or… punch something."


	5. Not Complaining

Chapter Five 

"I found something!" Dawn exclaimed, pushing herself off the floor. She brought the book over to the table and everyone huddled around her. "It says here that by saying this below incantation and using an Orb of Galadria, you can erase someone's memory completely."

"That sounds about right," Xander commented.

"How do we stop it?" Giles asked.

"It says you have to burn it using the lard of a Fornam demon." Dawn's face contorted into an appalled look. "Ew!"

"What's a Fornam?" Xander asked Giles.

"Let me guess, another thing to look up," Anya asked, with a hint of boredom.

"I'm afraid so. The sooner we find it, the sooner this is over with." Giles rubbed Anya's back with his right hand.

"If that's even how we lost our memories." Everyone turned their attention to Anya. "Your book said there were a bunch of ways to lose your memory and so far, over the span of two hours, we found _one_. Now we're gonna look for a demon, that we'll have to go find out there, get it's fat and burn an orb that we don't even have, and if we do, we don't know what it looks like. I'm ready to just go with the memory loss and continue from where we are now." Anya looked at Giles. "And you and I can rekindle our, adult, relationship."

"Bloody hell," Spike said under his breath.

"Anya's got a point," Xander said. "This is an awful lot of work to do just to get back some memories."

"Twenty one years of memories," Willow said, standing up in opposition. "That's a lot of years to not remember."

"But we won't remember the bad things that happened. I mean with this memory loss luck, whose to say the past has been especially kind to us," Xander defended.

"And whose to say this is the only thing that happened to go all… wonky."

In the back room Buffy was curled up on the half couch with the book. Her left hand was holding up her head while her right hand turned the pages. So far she read about meeting some souled vampire called Angel, the Harvest and a few random things. Right now she was reading about the Master's rising. Her face went blank when she reached an unnerving sentence. _Buffy drowned after the Master drank from her. _

"I was dead?" Buffy's heart started racing and her body temperature rose. "How… how could I forget something like that?" Memories started flowing back. She saw herself in a white dress. Some guy with fruit punch mouth bit her and she fell into some water. Her eyes open and she sees Xander and Angel smiling. She fights the Master and tosses him through the window on the roof of the school. She placed her hands over her face, trying to make the thoughts stop. She didn't want to remember this. Any of it.

"Buffy?"

She jumped a little in her seat when she heard her name. "Hi Randy." She brushed her hair back with her right hand.

"You all right pet?"

"Not really. No."

Spike walked towards her. He sat down next to her and cradled her in his arms. Buffy rested her head against his chest. He was so comfortable. Her thoughts of her life, which she didn't remember, ceased when she realized he didn't have a heart beat. _How strange. But fitting since he doesn't need blood to live. Well, pumping blood anyway._

"What's wrong Buffy?" It was still a bit awkward to hear herself called that. "Do you mind if I call you Buffy?"

"No. It _is_ my real name. I guess."

"Which your little sis is happy about."

Buffy let out a little laugh. _Joan's better than Umad._

Spike let her be quiet for a minute before repeating his question. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong? 'Cause you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I was reading a scary book."

"My father's diary? Somehow expected that."

"No, it's nothing about him. It's all about me. Me killing vampires, me fighting demons, and apparently, me dying."

"What?" Spike asked, moving his head back so he can look her in the face instead of the top of her head.

"Yeah. It says here that I drowned." Spike's eyes wandered as he tried to register this new information. "But Xander gave me CPR and brought me back."

"Well, that's good."

"I thought so." Buffy moved away from Spike. He removed his grasp of her and just looked at her. "I just, want to see what else happened."

"All right. I'll just, leave you alone." Spike stood up.

"Randy, wait." Spike stopped. Buffy rose from the chair and gave him a kiss. He stood there in bewilderment. "I just felt like doing that." She pursed her lips and sat back down.

"Not complainin'," Spike said with a laugh. He waved before turning to leave the room.

"I would like my memory back as well," Giles stated.

"I wou-would too," Tara stuttered.

"I third that," Dawn established.

"Why don't we look through the records of our items. If there's no Orb of Galadria, then that wasn't what caused this," Anya suggested.

"Good idea darling." Giles stood and offered his hand to Anya. She took it and let him lead her to the counter. "Now we need to find the list." They looked through all the drawers.

"I guess will continue the memory loss treasure hunt," Xander said.

"Guess so," Dawn agreed.

"Can we at least get some sort of food. My stomach is growling like a bear. How 'bout you Randy?" Spike was off in a Buffy daze. He received bits and pieces of his memories whenever he was around her. They were only about a half-second long, but it gave him something to feel like he wasn't completely void of living in this world.

Buffy kept reading in the training room. She flipped a couple pages, not wanting to read about her occasional defiance and killing random vampires. She stopped at a page with a weird symbol in the top corner. She read it. It spoke of a Spike who came to the school on parent teacher night. "Spike," Buffy said, remembering that name. She flipped back and found where it spoke of Nikki Wood's murder. _She was slain by the vampire Spike._ _He's killed one other Slayer before while he was in China._ "He killed two Slayers?" She went all the way to the beginning. She glanced through, looking for the Chinese Slayer. As she was about to turn the page with a depiction of Spike, he entered the room. She stopped. "What?" Buffy asked sincerely, placing the book on the couch before standing.

Spike walked straight to her and placed both his hands on her face. He kissed her deeply. Buffy wrapped her fingers around his forearms as he continued to kiss her. After he slipped her his tongue for the second time he pulled away. "I just felt like doing that."

"Not complaining," Buffy said with a smile. Spike smiled back and kissed her again.

**Author's Note:** If you haven't read them yet, I have two others stories on here. They're called Betrothed (not finished, but pure humor) and Eclipse (finished and kind of dark, but still Spuffy).


	6. It is You Spike

Chapter Six 

"All I'm sayin' is a couple cheeseburgers. The cows are already dead and waiting for someone to eat them," Xander stated.

"Ew," Dawn said. "That makes me crave _any_ meat product, much less."

"With ya there," Anya said.

"Found them!" Giles said, very excited.

"Yea!" Anya wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. Once they parted she gave him a kiss. "Good job Rupy."

"Now, lets looks for this Orb of Galactica."

"Galadria Rupy," Anya corrected.

"Yes, right. Galadria."

In the back room Buffy and Spike were sitting on the couch, making out. Spike slowly pushed Buffy back so they could lie down, well kinda. Buffy laid back and had the book resting in the curve of her spine. Spike continued kissing her, his hands lingering under her shirt.

"Wait," Buffy said between kisses. Spike stopped. "This book is quite uncomfortable when you're lying on top of it." Buffy sat up a little and removed it. She placed it on the floor. "Okay." They continued kissing.

Just as Buffy started unbuttoning his shirt, the door opened. They bolted into sitting position. "Ow!" Spike exclaimed when Buffy over jumped and hit his nose with her head.

"Sorry," she said sincerely. Spike's hand was covering his nose. "Are you bleeding?"

"Thankfully not."

"Sorry," Willow apologized, "but we were just wondering how the book was working for you? Did you find anything useful? Jog any memories?"

"Uh, yeah. Just a few."

"Well that's something. We possibly found out how we lost our memories. Something about an orb and burning it in a demon's fat to break the spell."

"Gross," Buffy said.

"Pretty much. Well, I'll just leave you… yeah." Willow shut the door.

Buffy took a deep breath and let it out. She picked the book off the floor and started reading.

"Wait, what about…?" Spike made hand gestures that referred to their make out session.

"We should really pay attention to the memory loss thing."

"Well, yeah we _should_, but that doesn't change what we _want_." Spike moved closer to her.

"Randy, come on."

"All right. But next time you want a break, let me know. I'll speak British to ya." He smiled and left.

Buffy continued looking through the book.

"I found one," Tara said in a low voice. No one heard her.

"No, there isn't even a food place open Xander," Willow argued.

"Well then someone look for a witch menu and zap me up something big and delicious."

"I found one," Tara said a little louder. Dawn's gaze turned to her.

"What Tara?" Everyone stopped talking when they heard Dawn's question.

"I found one." All but Anya and Giles, still looking for the orb, walked over to her. "It says here that there's a simple spell used with eye of newt and a Fire of Bronum that can erase ones memory."

"Eye of newt?" Xander repeated.

"Kill your appetite?" Spike asked.

"Actually I was thinking how good that could taste."

"Ew," Dawn commented.

"Wait, here's another one. It's used with a crystal and a special herb. Oh, it only removes a part of someone's memory," Tara read.

"That's definitely _not_ us," Xander said.

"Well shouldn't we check'em out anyway?" Dawn asked. "I mean, spells can probably go wrong and instead of a part it was the whole memory."

"Must be a pretty bad witch if _that_ happened," Willow said.

"There's another," Dawn said, pointing to the next paragraph.

"What's this book called?" Xander asked.

"Well this chapter is called Forgetful Spells and Future Sights," Tara answered.

"There's a chapter called forgetful spells? Why couldn't we have thought of that two hours ago?"

"It has the Orb of Galadria in here too, but Dawn said it first."

"We should write them down in the Cliff Notes versions and then we'll assign everyone one of the spells," Willow suggested.

"Good idea Willow," Tara said with a smile. She placed her hand over Willow's.

Xander turned his head away. Dawn walked past him. "Hey Dawnie."

She turned her head. "Dawnie?"

"Sorry, Dawn. So, uh… you got a boyfriend?" Dawn made an 'are you kidding me' face and walked away. "Call me."

Buffy was reading the passage about the Chinese slayer. Luckily, whoever had it next, translated it. She read about how she was very attentive and ready fight. She had a positive attitude and always gave a fast death. "Sounds pretty over the top." Buffy turned the page. The picture caught her eye. _He looks kinda like Randy._ Buffy looked at it closer. The guys hair wasn't slicked back but that was definitely his face structure.

The door opened. It was Spike. "Hey. I know it hasn't been long, but I need a break from them." Buffy looked at him with terror. "What's wrong?" Spike took a couple steps toward her.

"Stay away!"

He ceased. "What? What's wrong?"

Buffy shut the book and slid it to him. He took the two extra steps it took to reach the book. "Page twenty five."

Spike sorted through the pages. He went to far and back tracked. He looked closely at the picture. "Looks like me."

"It is you. Spike," she said with disgust.

**Author's Note:** If you haven't already, I ask that you check out my other two stories. They're called 'Eclipse' (dark and some humor, finished) and 'Betrothed' (not finished and full of humor). Please send me reviews or I might be so crushed I can't finish the story. :)


	7. It's squishy and Bumply

Chapter Seven

"Spike?" he asked, shocked at how she said and addressed this unknown name. "I don't…" Spike looked at the opposite page. He started reading the translated text. "What?"

"You're a vampire-"

"We know that," he said, looking worried. He watched Buffy as he answered her but looked straight back at the book, trying to save himself from hearing something hurtful.

"Let me finish," Buffy said, remaining calm. "You're a vampire who has killed two Slayers."

"Two?"

"Yes. One in China and one in New York."

"I've been to China?" he said, changing the subject.

"Spike!" Buffy was becoming aggravated.

"I'm sorry I just don't understand what's wrong?"

"You don't understand what's wrong? You _killed_ two Slayers. _I_ am a Slayer."

"Yes, but I don't want to kill you."

"Maybe just because you lost your memory. I mean, you didn't even remember you were a vampire in the _first_ place."

Spike walked right up to her, dropping the book on the couch. Buffy moved back until she was against the wall. "Or maybe it's because there's something between us."

"Which isn't space," Buffy stated, pointing out how close he was to her. Spike moved in for a kiss. Buffy ducked and moved around him. Spike braced himself with both hands on the wall. He turned his head to her. "I can't." Spike turned his whole body to her. "We can't."

"Nothing has changed except you found out a couple new things about me. I'm still the same guy you were making out with earlier."

"New things?" Buffy said, shocked how carelessly he just threw out these new facts. "You killed two girls."

"I'm a vampire Buffy. I _have_ to kill people in order to live." Spike started walking closer to her.

"Then maybe you need to stop living." Buffy was backing up with everyone of his steps.

Spike stopped. "Jumping the gun aren't we Slayer?"

Buffy's body quivered with that word. She hadn't entirely accepted 'Slayer' into her vocabulary, but something sounded familiar about it when Spike spoke it. "I don't know why I've let you live for this long but I can't allow you to kill people."

"Buffy, for soddin' out loud. I'm not going to bite you or anyone else in here."

"I'm sure it doesn't say 'kill only vampire's who threaten to bite your friends. Otherwise, don't worry about it.'"

"What's 'it'?"

"I don't know wherever these people put all their little rules and quirks."

"Okay," Spike took a step and Buffy backed up. He held up both hands in surrender. "I'm not gonna do anythin' 'cept ask a question." Buffy pursed her lips and waited. "Are you tellin' me that you only want to stake me now, because you found out I killed two other Slayers?"

"Well… yeah," Buffy admitted.

"Buffy, we found out you were the Slayer _before_ we made out, and yet, with the open chance to bite you, I didn't. So why would I bite you now?"

"I… I don't know." Buffy looked like she was about to cry Her face was so sad. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Then why kill me?"

"Because." Buffy started pacing with frustration. "I'm the Slayer and I'm supposed to kill vampires. You're a vampire, but you're not dead. Well, dusted undead. And I can't help but think there's a reason I haven't killed you yet, but maybe it's just because I didn't know you were one."

"Or maybe you _did_ and you didn't kill me because you were attracted to me."

Buffy ceased her pacing and looked at him. "I can't be with a vampire. There has to be a rule about that."

"Well the rules are only enforced if people know." Spike started to walk towards her, but was ready to retreat if she did any sudden movements. Buffy stood there as Spike came towards her and embraced her.

Buffy rested her head against his chest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _This feels right. Yet wrong at the same time._

"Gordona alonsay," Giles read. There was a flash of light and a whirl of papers. Within ten seconds some type of demon was standing in front of them. It growled, making the girls scream. Xander came from behind and stabbed it through the chest. The demon screamed in agony and fell to the floor.

"Oh yeah!" Xander applauded himself. "Let's do it again!" Everyone looked at him like he had three heads. "Or we can just stick with the one."

"This looks like the picture from the book," Willow said. "Now we just have to cut out it's lard and burn it with the Orb of Galadria."

"Which we found!" Anya said, holding it up.

"We know Anya. You only said it eight times when you first found it," Xander interrupted.

"That doesn't mean it's less triumphant." Anya lost grip and the orb fell from her hand. Giles quickly reached for it and caught it inches from the ground. Everyone gasped. Anya let out a little chuckle. "Oops."

"Okay, so let's do this before another 'oops,'" Xander suggested. He cut it open and bent down. "Ugh!" Xander fanned the air in front of him. "It smells awful."

"I'm sure it's only this demon. The others probably smell like flowers," Dawn quipped.

"Are you sure it's the lard from a demon and not a teenage girl?" Xander threatened.

"Previous statement retracted," Dawn said with a smile.

Xander turned back to the demon and removed something from it's stomach. "Is this lard? It's squishy and bumply."

"Looks like it could be lard."

Xander took another look inside of the Fornam demon. "Well it has to be considering there's nothing else in here. Oh wait," he reached in and pulled a bony finger with a silver ring wrapped around it. "Someone lose a ring? Or a finger?"

"Gross," Dawn observed.

"Okay so we have lard and the Orb of Galadria. Sounds like the perfect barbecue." Xander rubbed his hands together.


	8. Crystals!

Chapter Eight

Everyone, besides Spike and Buffy, was seated around the table, a small fire burning in some dish type thing they found. The lard was burning, and extracting a very unpleasant smell. "It smells like old fish and cottage cheese," Dawn described.

"Okay," Willow said, with her hand covering her nose. "Now we must place the orb in the fire and that should break the spell."

Giles took the Orb of Galadria from the tabletop and placed it in the fire. There was a small eruption and the store filled with smoke. Everyone ran to the door and stood outside, trying to catch their breath. "That went well," Xander said between coughs. "Anyone remember anything?"

Willow looked around and noticed Tara wasn't outside. "Tara?" Everyone gazed around and noticed the timid girl was not present. "Tara!" Willow ran inside.

"Willow!" Xander yelled after her. He took a couple shallow breaths before following her inside.

Willow waved smoke from her face and tried finding the table they were seated at. Xander grabbed her hand. "Willow, you can get hurt!"

"I can't leave Tarain here!" Willow moved forward and Xander kept a hold of her hand. "Tara!" Willow saw her girlfriend lying on the floor. She kneeled down next to her. "Tara? Tara?"

"Willow, we gotta go." Xander picked Tara up and ran outside, checking behind him every couple steps to make sure he didn't lose Willow. Once outside, Xander and Willow thought they were going to collapse. Their lungs were filled with smoke and they had trouble breathing. Xander laid Tara down on the sidewalk and walked away to get further away from The Magic Box.

In the back room Buffy collapsed in Spike's arms. "Buffy?" He gave her a little shake. "Buffy?" She wasn't responding. Spike looked at the door and noticed smoke was coming through and had filled part of the room. "Right." He put his right arm under her legs and carried Buffy out the back door.

"Randy!" Giles exclaimed, remembering his 'son' was still inside. "Randy!" He ran back into the store. The smoke was beginning to dwindle. "Randy!" He went into the back room and noticed he wasn't there. "Randy!"

Spike's ears caught the sound of Giles's voice. "Dad?" He popped his head into the store. "Dad!" Spike dashed inside, grabbed Giles by the arm and took him outside to the alley.

Giles coughed so much it hurt his chest. He took a deep breath and looked at Spike. "Randy." He gave him a big hug. After a second of surprise, Spike embraced him as well. "I was so worried."

"Worried?"

Giles let his grasp of Spike slip. He looked him in the eyes. "Of coarse I was worried. I may be engaged to Anya but you're my son and I love you. I love you more than anything else in the world."

Spike had a small tear forming in the corner of his eye. "Thanks Dad." Spike gave Giles a big hug.

"Oh dear," Giles said alarmed, noticing Buffy passed out on the ground.

Spike looked behind him. "Bugger!" He quickly fell to his knees and laid Buffy's head on his legs. "Buffy? Buffy, you all right?" He gently brushed her face with his hands.

"What happened?" Giles kneeled down next to Spike.

"I don't know. One minute she's standing and the next she's collapsed."

"How strange."

"Tell me 'bout it." Spike looked at Buffy's face. She was so beautiful.

"No, I mean, uh, Tara as well collapsed once we burned the Orb of Galadria. I wonder if there's some sort of connection between the two."

"If you're suggesting Buffy's a lesbian, I can personally guarantee-"

"No, not in a romantic way. A mystical one."

"Oh." Spike gazed back at Buffy. "Couldn't tell ya."

Giles noticed the connection Spike had towards Buffy. It brought a smile to his face. "She's a great girl," he said, placing his left hand on Spike's shoulder.

"Yeah, she is."

"Rupy?" Anya called from inside.

"Anya?" Giles stood up and went inside.

"There you are." Anya hugged Giles tightly. "I was afraid you were hurt."

"I'm fine darling."

Willow was trying to bring Tara back to consciousness while Xander regained composure. He finally had exceptionally cleaned out lungs and could breath well again.

"Looks like the store's cleared out," Dawn observed.

"Great now we can go back to the mines of books and lost hopes."

"Huh?"

"Trying the other eight billion ways to get our memory back," Xander rephrased.

"Got it." Dawn and Xander walked inside.

Anya and Giles walked out of the back room, arms around each other's back. "This was better than a cat that wanted to eat us," Anya stated.

"Quite," Giles seconded.

"Crystals!" Xander exclaimed, as he passed the table holding two baskets of them.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Crystals. It says we can lose our memory by crystals, and I found one down in the sewer. Maybe that's it."

"Xander, we established the crystal factor twenty minutes ago," Dawn said.

"Well it took me awhile to remember. I'm sorry but I've been forgetting things lately," he said nastily.

"Wonderful thinking Xander," Giles complimented.

"I'll expect some sort of trophy later."

"Anya, where did you put that crystal?" Giles asked.

"With the others."

Anya and Giles pursued the two weaved baskets filled with crystals. "They all look the same," Dawn said.

"Well I didn't say it had a giant red circle with a line through it or anything."

"So what should we do?" Dawn asked.

"Let's break'em."

"Certainly not!" Anya protested. "These crystals bring in money and with every crystal you break that's money out of _our_ pockets. Rupy, tell them."

"So we'll just stay like this?" Dawn said, making the idea sound ridiculous.

"I suggested that half an hour ago."

"Sorry, but I'm beginning to crave my memory refill." Xander threw down the first crystal. Nothing happened.

"That's…" Anya looked at the price written in black marker on the basket. "$4.95!"

Xander threw down another. Again nothing. "$4.95… plus $4.95," Xander said, not wanting to delay his comeback by five minutes. He then picked up the black crystal and threw it.

**Author's Note:** Well, that's it. It's finished. So be sure to send reviews. ... I'm just kidding! There's another chapter coming. Had ya worried a minute there, huh?


	9. Come on Buffy

Chapter Nine

A bright green light emanated from the crystals many shards. Everyone took a step back, their memories immediately rushing back.

On the sidewalk, outside the store, Tara's eyes opened. "Tara," Willow said happily.

Tara's eyes started to water. _She didn't keep her promise._ Tara quickly rose from the ground. "All you had to do, was stay away from magic. I guess I was asking too much." She turned her head and walked away, tears falling down her face.

Willow sat there in shock, ashamed of what she'd done. _Anya and Giles thought they were engaged. Spike thought his name was Randy and he was Giles's son. And Tara… Tara. I'm so sorry._

Anya and Giles looked at each other, realized their arms were still around the other's back. They remembered what they did and immediately removed their hold. Anya moved over to Xander and put her head on his chest. "Oh Xander."

"Anya." He placed his hand on her head. Xander looked up and saw Giles's horrid face. "Oh god! You two…"

"All we did was kiss," Anya finished. "Can we go home and have sex now?"

"You kissed Giles."

"Yes, may we stop bringing that back up. Sex. Now."

"Can't say no to that. G'night Giles," Xander said, a little freaked out to look at him.

"Yes. G'night," Giles leaned over the counter.

In the alley Buffy awoke. She looked up and saw Spike leaning over her. "You all right?" Spike asked.

Buffy, with a disgusted look on her face, stood up and walked away from him. Spike watched her turn the corner, waiting for her to turn around and say she was kidding. She didn't. Spike inhaled deeply and pounded the hard cement ground three times.

Buffy walked down the road, folding her arms. Her emotions were in overload. _I can't believe all the crap I have to deal with. I need to clear my head from this day, this year. My whole life would be nice._ Buffy found herself in front of 'The Bronze', the only place for teenagers to go to get away from their parents and rules. Well, not the 'no drinking until you're twenty one' rule. She walked inside and sat at the bar.

There was a new act performing tonight. Someone named Michelle Branch. She had long black hair and was playing the guitar. She was singing about leaving someone. _Join the club_, Buffy thought.

Giles gathered his things from his house and went to the airport. Alone. There was no one there to bid him a good send off. They were all too busy trying to forget what happened.

Willow was crying in the bathroom while Tara packed her bags. It was hard for her to think she wouldn't be able to talk to Willow for a good length of time, but she had to do this. Willow was doing too much magic for Tara to put up with. _Maybe with me gone she'll be able to get better._She put her light blue shirt in her bag. _I just didn't think it would hurt this much._

Spike took a deep sniff of the air, trying to catch Buffy's scent. He ended up being led to 'The Bronze.' He went inside and saw her sitting at the bar. _There she is. Not looking especially happy, but she never did look happy before she started snoggin' me._ Spike promenaded over to her. Buffy's head turned, knowing who would be there. Spike just stood there, taking a breath. _Come on Buffy._ Buffy turned away. _What the- Sod it!_ He turned abruptly and treaded away.

Buffy looked down at her drink. _Giles is probably on his plane to England right now. In the sky, thinking about how now he doesn't have to worry about watching over me any more. Him leaving isn't gonna help in any way. All it does is hurt. He's been my father and watcher for six years and now he decides I need to go on without him. Watcher's are supposed to stay with their Slayer's until they die! Why don't I get any respect from him?!_ Buffy finished what was left in her cup. She looked over and saw Spike sitting next to some teenage bimbo with black hair. _What does he think he's doing? Trying to make me jealous. Well, that's not gonna work_She looked back over and saw her laughing and touching his arm.

Buffy stood up and walked over to him. She grabbed the arm of his coat and pulled him over to the stairs. "What are you-" Spike's sentence was cut off by Buffy's lips meeting his. She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled him closer. Spike wrapped his arms around her back. They parted for a second to catch their breath, before continuing their make out session.

**Author's Note:** Je fini. AKA, I finished. I finished! I'm sorry to those who want it to continue but the episode does end there and I just wanted to make it longer with Spike and Buffy mackin' it. Please review so I don't stain my pillow with tears. I do promise a new story that's all funny and pure Spuffy.


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